LEWS

Ever heard of LEWS? I’ve never heard of LEWS until early this month. LEWS stands for Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary. And that’s where I spent my last 2 weeks of the month of June. Cool eh?

My post will take awhile to write, but for now I’ll leave you with some photos taken there.

The Corinthian

Do you know what a Corinthian is? A man addicted to fashion and to dandyism. Well, that’s what the author said.

I have read Georgette Heyer’s novel titled the ‘Corinthian’ for the umpteenth times. I love her stories! I started with reading her novels out of curiosity really. My elder sisters were laughing and giggling whenever they were reading her books and that piqued my interest. I was a teenager then.

I started with the ‘Corinthian’ because it was the thinnest book among all that they have. You see, I have always had trouble understanding British jokes and I don’t quite understand my sisters’ laughter. Anyway, I persevered and read the book for the second time. I may not laugh out loud (like I do whenever I read Terry Pratchett’s books) but I laughed! I really did! The storyline is simple yet enjoyable, the settings classic but light.

From the Corinthian, I graduated to the Faro’s Daughter, the Sprig Muslin, the Quiet Gentleman and the Grand Sophy. I love the Grand Sophy the most. Very witty, very charming and oh so funny!

I have long list of her books to read but they are so so so difficult to find. My sister bought Grand Sophy in Jordan if you could believe that! (Well it’s true!). I always make it a point to inquire about her books whenever I venture into bookstores. I have been advised to look for her books at second-hand bookstores but I have yet to find one.

So, if any of you out there who have read Georgette Heyer’s books, please, it is available to be borrowed?

Bakun…finally….

Salam people,

First and foremost, my most sincere apologies for the absolute tardiness in posting my posts. I know, I know…I promised to post my stories about Bakun aeons ago but I haven’t don’t so. I could list a whole lot of excuses (all are true mind you!) but I won’t waste your time (nor mine). So….

It was noon when I arrived at Bintulu airport. The food on in-flight was ok; we were given cold sandwiches, an apple, a small tub of mineral water and some junk food (Cadbury-bites it was called if I’m not mistaken). The queue at the customs took some time. My colleague Kath and I were the last of our team to reach the lobby. We were greeted by Wong, another colleague from our Sibu office.

After stuffing all of our bags in the 3 Hilux’ (1 from our Sibu office, 2 provided by the client), we made our way to Bintulu town to collect sampling bottles and yes, grab some bites and do a bit of shopping.

I was in the same pickup as our Sibu colleagues. We started the journey from Bintulu town to Bakun at abt 4 pm. The journey took about 2.5 - 3 hrs. The road was bad. (Like one of the client’s driver, Jem, said, “Jalan di sini jahat-jahat,”. I tried not to laugh when I heard that but believe me, my tummy nearly burst!) Anyways, we reached the Resort before 7 pm and it was already dark.

The monitoring activity started that very night with noise level monitoring. We just set-up the equipment and left it at the station until the next morning where the monitoring resumes for the daytime monitoring.

The nest few days were really hectic: the air monitoring, the noise monitoring, the sewage effluent monitoring and the water quality monitoring. On top of the monitoring activities themselves, my team had to do parallel monitoring with the contractor’s environmental consultant as well as verifying their sampling methods. Phew! That was a lot of hard work!

My days basically started at 6 am and ended at about 11 or 12 pm. Not much rest in-between except for lunch breaks and dinner.

Food was a real problem to me because there were not many Malay/Muslim café/restaurant. Though they don’t serve pork there, but still…I just had to ‘tawakkal’. I guess I’ll bring my own rice cooker and other stuff the next time I’m there. That means a bigger bag….hmmmm

Anyways, I will not bore you anymore with the environmental monitoring stuff, but I have to tell you that nothing beats waking up to the sound of rivers flowing, the songs of birds chirping, fresh air, green surroundings and the cicadas at night…hmmmm…I miss them all.

Kamek sudah pulai…

Salam people…

I’m back!!! Well, I came back to KL on Saturday really and back to the office on Tuesday. Apologies for the tardy post. Been a bit busy with travel liquidations and writing reports and letters to the ministers (*wink*) yadda yadda yadda ….

I have a draft of my story in Bakun in my head, but since I don’t have the appropriate photos with me (yet), I’m postponing the posting of the story… But I will include a photo of me standing in the Balui River and me driving a Toyota Hilux on the Bakun road

I love the story (or post rather) that I have in mind and I really hope all of you will love it too. The story will be posted early next week, so TUNGGUUUUU…..

Here we go!!!!

It’s Friday and I’m off to Bakun, Sarawak on Sunday 9th March 2008. I will be there until next Saturday 15th March 2008.

It will be a physically and mentally challenge period for me as there will be a lot of environmental monitoring and report writing activities for me to do day and night. Hopefully I have the strengths needed to go through this period and I seriously hope the boat will not overturn during sampling in the Rajang River Basin.

If the internet connection is okay, I’ll let you guys know the goings on during my time there. If not, well, you’ll just have to wait until I come back.

Until then, do take care.

P/S: Wish me luck ya

…help me…

…build MY MINI CITY by clicking here.

Who would have thought….

…that Lata Batu Puteh, Batu Kurau, Perak has the 3rd highest waterfall in South East Asia…Not me surely. But the fact remains.

I came across the article while reading the Star, Saturday 1st March 2008. It was a pleasant surprise really to see your hometown (or my father’s rather) mentioned in the papers. You see, I haven’t been back to Batu Kurau for ages, let alone the river. I never thought that the river I used to soak myself in when I was a teeny weeny kid could be as gorgeous as the pictures below (courtesy of The Star). It was beautiful then, it is gorgeous now and who knows, it might be magnificent later on.

According to Liz Price, the writer, the journey is a bit tedious but very rewarding. I agree heartily. Nothing beats the amazing view and exhilaration you feel being as close to nature as that. *sigh* I just love waterfalls. To read the article in full, please click here; to see more of Lata Batu Puteh’s and Anak Kurau’s pictures (courtesy of Liz Price of course), please click here; to see more of Malaysia’s waterfalls, kindly visit Liz’s friend, Jan’s website here.

My colleugues at the office, knowing that half of my ‘roots’ came from Batu Kurau, asked me whether there are chalets there. You see, they are planning to go there for our 2nd company trip for this year. How cool is that?

So, my cousins, nephews or nieces out there; should any of you is/are running chalets or other related activities around Lata Batu Puteh, do drop me a line by clicking Anak Pakcik/ Tokcik Shukri..

Put down your glasses please…

It’s 1820 and I’m still in the office. The reason being: I’ve got too much work to do. The usual reason that people give for working late.

Previously, the most number of bosses (or supervisors) that I usually have was 2. Now, I have 4. Each is handling different projects and I’m suppose to manage my time accordingly in between the tasks given.

So, what do you do when you have 4 bosses who give you tonnes of work today and expected them to be completed and handed over yesterday? All I could do is just shrugged my worn shoulders and say, ‘OK’.

What I am really trying to say is that, you have to learn to say no. Well, you have too or else you’ll be bogged down by too much work that you simply can’t handle. Negotiate with your supervisors. Well, if one of your supervisors is the big man of the company, then the other supervisors will give in, a bit.

Lena Horne said that, “It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s how you carry it…“

It makes sense really. If you carry two bags with your right hand, you’ll definitely feel the weight. But if you carry one each in each hand, now, that wasn’t so bad, was it? For more motivational quotable quotes, feel free to click here.

So, it’s time for to go home; to read more reports and write more reports. *sigh*

Have a great weekend everyone!

MY TOK AYAH AND MY TOK YAM -edited

It is always great to visit your kampung during school holidays and festive seasons; especially where your parents are not around to monitor your every step and scold you on every misdemeanour. Grandparents are not so strict when it comes to their grandchildren. A personal statement based on personal observations from yours truly.

Do you remember when you went frolicking in the mud at the sawah padi or splashed each other in streams and rivers with your grandparents looking on? Well, I don’t….and that’s the truth. You see, I was not privileged enough to meet and to know my Tok Ayah and my Tok Yam (or Wan as she was affectionally known by other grandchildren).

Tok Ayah Haji Din and Tok Yam Hajjah Mariam were my grandparents on my father’s side. My kampung or rather my father’s kampung is in Kampung Sempeneh Cempaka, Batu Kurau, Perak Darul Ridzuan.

My Tok Ayah passed away in October 22^nd 1964. My parents were not even married then. This means, none of my five siblings had the opportunity to know Tok Ayah.

Tok Yam passed away in February 5^th, 1978. My mom was pregnant with me at the time. Of those who attended the funeral, most said that I would be the one to replace her. I was born in the same month but I can’t really say whether I look like her, or whether I’m built like her. Whenever I ask this question to my relatives,

‘Cek nampak macam Tok Yam ka?’ (Do I look like Tok Yam?)

the answer I usually get is…

‘Ada la sikit-sikit,’ (You look like her some…)

According to Abuya (my dad), I am built like Tok Yam; big and tall, even my short toes are like hers .

Truth be told, I am glad if I am told that I am like Tok Yam. At least, when I look into the mirror I could say,

‘So, this is what my grandmother looks like’.

I have no idea how Tok Ayah and Tok Yam looked like you know, until I was in the university. Owing to the efforts of my cousins, uncles and aunts, I now have a bookmark portraying my grandparents. I am attaching the scanned picture of them (from the bookmark).

So, tell me…do I look like my Tok Yam?

My Shooting Star

“Look mommy, a shooting star! If I make a wish now, will it be granted?”

The little girls’ voice sent a jolt through my brain. It seems like yesterday when I uttered those words…truth be told, it was 20 years ago……

It was a cool and clear night. The stars are shining brightly. Mommy was humming softly under the moonlight. I couldn’t remember the tune though. She looked so pretty with the flowery patterned scarf that covers her long black hair, swaying in the gentle breeze. She stopped the swing she was sitting on when she heard the pitter-patter of my footsteps on the pebbled walkway.

“Couldn’t sleep little one?” she asked, smiling sweetly.

I nodded my head.

“Come here.”

She lifted me up and I sat on her lap. She put her arms around me and I snuggled closer to her breast.

“Want to talk about it? You might feel better.”
“I had a bad dream mommy.”
“What about sweetheart?”
“We, me and daddy and you went boating and I fell into the lake. I couldn’t swim mommy. I tried and tried but I keep sinking.”

Tears welled in my eyes.

“Hush sweetie…it’s just a dream. I’m here and I’ll keep you safe. Don’t you worry your little head ok?”

She lifted my chin and planted a warm kiss on my forehead.

“I love you, precious one,” said mommy, her eyes all misty.

I looked into her eyes and to my surprise I saw sadness.

She held me closer. I could feel her body shivering.

Poor mommy, I thought to myself, she must be cold.

“Mommy look! Look! A shooting star!”

My voice must have startled mommy out of her reverie. She looked upward.

“Where? I can’t see it, honey.”

I jumped down from mommy’s lap, head tilted upward, looking for my shooting star.

“Oooh…I see it, I see it,” said mommy. Her face glowed.

“If I make a wish now, will it be granted, mommy?”

Mommy smiled. Her eyes twinkled. “Perhaps. Give it a try.”

I closed my eyes and made my wish. When I opened them, mommy was staring at my face.

“What did you wish for?”
“Wouldn’t it be bad luck if I told you mommy?”

Mommy laughed.

“Bad luck or not it’s not ours to decide, sweetheart. Whatever happens around us is the Almighty’s will, you know. “

“Whatever happens to us is the Almighty’s will….”

That phrase didn’t cross my mind when Mommy passed away 5 years later. I was 15, a rebellious ‘must-have-my-own-way’ teenager. True, I caused Mommy a lot of heartache, but I loved her and still love her dearly. When her body was lowered to the ground, I cried, and cried and blamed God for taking her away from me. Mommy should be with me always…That’s how I want it to be…

“Your mommy is always with you, you know little one.”

That was what my Daddy said at that time.

How could she be here? She’s dead, dead and dead! I screamed silently.

It is the Almighty’s will that I’m here today. It is Almighty’s will that I am without my Mommy. He knows I’m able to cope with life as long as I believe that whatever happens to me is the Almighty’s will.

A deep and meaningful phrase that will guide me and my children throughout our life….